Something New

These ancient verses only show
We know no more than we did know.
Is it the wait that strikes us dumb,
Or weight from some eternal thumb?
We sit and while away the days
While far away they bale their hay.
We talk about that ancient vice
To which we owe our days and lives,
While all around us bellies grow--
Nine coffee cups all in a row;
A hundred trillion tiny towns
In water bitter, rank, and brown.
We stain our knees in futile search
For something new. Our stomachs lurch
And spill their contents on the floor,
And still we have learned nothing more
Than Ramses Great and his wives knew--
That this and that makes something new.
Our twins entwined in helices
Do float in quiet apathy
Until they have their chance to show
We know no more than we did know.